Watcher of the Stranger
by Aryaveiel Skycryer
Summary: Someone is watching as the stranger (me, obviously) arrives on Myst Island. But this stranger is so amazed by the special effects that she is far too distracted to focus on beating the game. *Chapter 2 now up!* Like anyone cares!
1. The Stranger's Arrival

*DISCLAIMER* Do I own MYST? No! I may be currently using the Riven discs, on loan from my brother while he is at college, but I most certainly do not own the rights to any of the games made by Cyan. They most certainly do.  
  
~Author's Note~ I was already halfway through the original MYST when my brother came home with a copy of realMYST. He's a very nice older brother, and he let me play it, on his computer no less! We were both astonished at all of the new features. I'll tell you, it's hilarious to see a (nearly) grown man giggling as he chases butterflies through the woods on Myst Island. I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my realMYST experience!  
  
  
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I had been waiting on the grassy knoll by the dock for what seemed like forever. Beautiful as it was, Myst island got lonely after a while. At long last, the wooden dock was empty no more. A young teenager appeared, looking slightly disoriented but otherwise not as confused as I expected the stranger to look. Wouldn't you be frightened, if you found a wayward book and, upon touching a page, been transported to another world entirely? It baffled me to look upon the girl, as she seemed to know exactly what was happening to her.  
  
The girl's eyes did, though, get very wide as she took in her surroundings. "Arya, this is by far the coolest thing you've ever seen." Assuming she was speaking to herself in the third person, I now knew what to call her. "Check out the water. It's moving! It looks so real..." she murmured. The water looks real? What did she expect?  
  
Arya mechanically made a right-angle turn to face the doorway of Atrus and Catherine's chamber. Then, very carefully, as though testing out her muscles, she turned more smoothly to face the wide ocean that surrounded the island. Again she turned until she was in the same spot she had arrived in.  
  
"I...can...move!" she cried, and began laughing hysterically. Arya began to spin in a full circle, slowly at first, then faster and faster until even I became dizzy. "Ha-ha! Three-hundred-sixty degrees of motion! Just like real life!" She started to walk forward on the creaking dock, but stopped just short of the stone stairs. "I wonder..." and Arya quickly ran up the grass-covered hill that I had been sitting on. At the top, she stood stock still, mouth gaping open. "I am no longer confined to the simple boundaries of steps and paths! I have free range of motion!" Her voice suddenly changed from the giddiness of a young girl to a mock all-powerful God-like tone. "BOW DOWN TO ME, MERE MORTALS WITH ONLY FOUR DIRECTIONS OF MOVEMENT! MUAHahahahaha! I now OWN Myst island! I OWN IT!"  
  
This teenager's arrogance annoyed me, and perplexed me at the same time. Who was this visitor to think she could own something as intangible as the creation of Myst island? And why was she so excited about the freedom to move about as she pleased, if she "owned" the island? This is not the stranger I was expecting to come to Atrus's rescue. In fact, I believe such an insane girl will be of more harm than help. Until tomorrow I will leave this scene of a wild girl running amok by the sea. How long can one person spend near the dock? Is it really that interesting?  
  
  
  
~Author's P.S.:~ Did that drag on as much as it seemed to while I was writing it? I sure hope not. Honest, it was a lot funnier to actually watch me playing the game. I also got the feeling that I switched back and forth between past and present tense. Let me know if it was very distracting to the story. I have several more chapters brewing up in here (points to head), and I promise they get better as they go. I just kept being more and more amazed with the new advancements of realMYST! Please review; I need to know if this is an embarrassment to all writers everywhere or the greatest work ever written. We'll hope it's somewhere in between, eh? 


	2. In Atrus and Catherine's Chamber

Disclaimer: I am not Cyan, Rand Miller, or Robyn Miller. I own nothing of MYST whatsoever. Not even the game, though I have played it often.  
  
To Reveur (my only "reviewer". Get it?): I can't believe you have never played MYST! I was writing this mostly for your benefit, since you're the only one who reads my stuff any more anyway, and then I find out you probably have no idea what I'm talking about? The injustice! Now this is merely for my own sanity. Or, rather, insanity...  
  
*WARNING* Spoilers within! Not for the ending of the game, but for the game itself. If you do not want to know what realMYST is like before you play it, then do not read! Don't do it!  
  
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The next morning I awoke, only to find that the girl who had previously been visiting Myst Island was no longer here. After I sat in wait until midday, she was back on the dock once again, only this time not as senseless as before.  
  
"Now, let's see here, Arya," she mused to herself. "What can I do with this new power they call 360 degrees?" With that, she spun around a few more times and opened the door that led to Atrus and Catherine's chamber. Arya took one step inside the doorway, and the metal sheet slammed shut behind her. Instead of continuing down the stair, she paused on the first step to take in her surroundings. "Ooh...I wonder what the walls look like!" Arya turned to face the wallpaper that lined the chamber. "Pretty! Now let's have a look at these stairs..." She sprawled out flat on her stomach and peered under the step she was on, then, with a gasp, cried out, "They're lighted! I always wondered where the lighting down here came from! And the woodwork...it's so detailed! You can see every grain and knot in each panel!"  
  
I sighed. At this rate, Arya would figure out how to help Atrus by the time he was dead.  
  
After nearly a half an hour of examining each step, Arya was finally in Atrus and Catherine's chamber. Upon seeing the small pool in the center, she rushed up to it and tried to activate the holograms by pressing the button. When nothing seemed to happen, she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Of course! That little panel thingy. I remember that from last time..." Last time? Then this girl had been here before? How was it, then, that Atrus was still trapped in D'ni, Catherine still a prisoner in Riven, and this Arya was so amazed by every single aspect of Myst Island? Clearly she is an easily amused child...  
  
(Author: Child? What do you mean?)  
  
(Narrator: You're the one who wrote it. Haven't you said "Arya" and "the girl" enough times already?)  
  
(Author: All right, all right. Carry on.)  
  
Anyway, Arya sauntered over to the metal panel set into the wall, opened it, and entered the proper code after consulting a small notebook in her jacket pocket. She then turned the pool back on to listen to Atrus's urgent message. How she knew the code already, I had no idea. She hadn't even been up the path to find Atrus's note!  
  
The water's surface shimmered to reveal Atrus. He began to speak, but, rather than listening intently to his speech, Arya waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, Atrus, I get the point. I'm working on it, okay?" She then proceeded to wander around the rest of the room, paying very little attention to the hologram of Atrus. I was appalled at her lack of seriousness regarding her mission, which she already seemed to understand. Didn't she realize that their was a limited amount of time to save Atrus and Catherine? Didn't she see...  
  
A short yelp from Arya interrupted my thoughts. She was now on the opposite side of the pool, with her body facing the far wall. She began to whip her head from side to side, like a dog trying to hear something. "Can it be? Surround sound?" She turned back to face the pool. "Atrus? I can see you from this angle, too! You're upside-down! And your voice...it's only coming in my left speaker!" This girl's behavior was so frustrating! Why was she so amazed at things like the direction of sound, or the fact that Atrus's hologram was visible from all angles? Atrus is very talented with electronics. Of course he can make a 3-dimensional hologram. And what does she mean, speaker?  
  
Arya continued to walk slowly around the circumference of the pool, her arms outstretched, as though she were creeping about an enemy campsite. "Wow...the sound changes as you walk around! This is amazing! I can't---" The water then became blank once more. Arya ran back to enter the code and pressed the button to replay Atrus's message. She played the entire recording at least five times, skipping and dancing around the pool, and then for the next hour she was fascinated by the other images the pool could produce. 


End file.
